BGP Routing Process

Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is the backbone routing protocol for most of the Internet and
allows for peering and carrier networks to connect. BGP is an excellent example of a path vector
protocol that dynamically updates the path information that it maintains. With BGP the policy or
attributes for making the actual route selections among the interconnected autonomous systems
is based on Weight, Local preference, Multi-exit discriminator, Origin, AS path, Next hop, &
Community. BGP information is propagated through the network by exchanges of BGP
messages (4 types: Open, Update, Notification, & Keep Alive) between peers. Another key
feature to BGP is that it supports Classless Inter Domain Routing (CIDR). With the support of
CIDR BGP can reduce the size of the Internet routing tables. BGP neighbors exchange full
routing information when the TCP (port 179) connection between neighbors is first established.
When changes to the routing table accrue, the BGP routers send to their neighbors only those
routes that have changed. BGP routers do not send periodic routing updates and advertise only
the optimal paths to a destination.

Configuration
The BGP routing process periodically scans the main IP routing table to detect the presence or
absence of local networks, updating the BGP routing table as appropriate.

The network command is used to inject IGP routes into the BGP table. The network-mask
portion of the command allows supernetting and subnetting. The resources of the router, such as
configured NVRAM or RAM, determine the upper limit of the number of network commands
you can use. Alternatively, you could use the redistribute router configuration command to
achieve the same result.

For exterior protocols, a reference to an IP network from the network router configuration
command controls only which networks are advertised. This behavior is in contrast to IGP, such
as OSPF, which also use the network command to determine where to send updates.

Routing Process
NetStepByStep-R1(config)# router bgp <Autonomous system number>

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 Use to enable the BGP routing protocol and to specify the local AS—the AS to which
this BGP speaker belongs.
“Autonomous system number” is a number between 1-65535
Specify only one BGP AS per router.

Verification
show ip bgp

To display entries in the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routing table.

Use the show ip bgp command in user EXEC or privileged EXEC mode.
BGP prefixes that are monitored and controlled by Optimized Edge Routing (OER) are
displayed by entering the show ip bgp command with the oer-paths keyword.

Troubleshoot
debug ip bgp events

Use to display information related to events of the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP).
Use this command in privileged EXEC mode.
To disable debugging output, use the no form of this command.

Video Cheat Sheet

R1
conf t
router bgp 2

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